Conformational properties of interacting neurofilaments: Monte Carlo simulations of cylindrically grafted apposing neurofilament brushes.

ABSTRACT: Neurofilaments are essential cytoskeletal filaments that impart mechanical stability to axons. They are mostly assembled from three neurofilament proteins that form the core of the filament and its sidearms. Adjacent neurofilaments interact with each other through their apposing sidearms and attain unique conformations depending on the ionic condition, phosphorylation state, and interfilament separations. To understand the conformational properties of apposing sidearms under various conditions and gain insight into interfilament interactions, we performed Monte Carlo simulations of neurofilament pairs. We employed a sequence-based coarse-grained model of apposing NF sidearms that are end-tethered to cylindrical geometries according to the stoichiometry of the three neurofilament subunits.

SUBMITTER: Jayanthi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3689358 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature